Universities in the Digital Age (Hour 2)

–A virtual classroom with hundreds of thousands of participants who will never meet each other. The professor on a screen or, better still, behind one. Tests graded by other students.

It sounds like a dystopian education nightmare.

But in 2012, the future of the university has arrived. Radical change is in the air. From the pot bangers of Montreal to high-powered thinkers in Silicon valley, the traditional model of the university is under attack.

The digital revolution – which has upended journalism, publishing, movies and music – is poised to storm the ivory tower. Under enormous financial pressure, and facing a strong push to “democratize” knowledge, the university is being asked to re-imagine itself. In question: the very nature and purpose of higher education, at a time when demand for it has never been greater.

Ira Basen – our virtual frontiersman – peers into the future and explores what’s at stake. His documentary is called The Big Disruption: Universities in the Digital Age.–